Once More With Feeling
by S.T.A.R.S Chick
Summary: Julia takes a trip to Callisto and finds everyone's favorite saxaphone player. This is my interpretation of what happened when Julia went to Jupiter and met Gren
1. Walking by

Disclaimer - I don't own Cowboy Bebop  
  
AN: So, I was watching Jupiter Jazz for probably the 100th time, and wondered about Julia and Gren. So I decided to elaborate.  
  
  
**  
Once More With Feeling**  
  
  
  
It was snowing again. Gren noticed that on his way to the Blue Crow. It was sometimes depressing. He had always thought snow was beautiful. So clean and peaceful. It was like the world was covered in a white blanket. He had never really gotten used to having snow almost everyday. But it wasn't like he could move to a warmer destination. He was a fugitive. Running from the law. What a better place to hide out then Callisto? But he wasn't the only fugitive there. Many of the men on Callisto were wanted by police for one reason or another. Some had trivial crimes, while others were more serious.   
  
Gren walked silently to the Blue Crow. Everything had started three months ago, when his comrade had turned him in. Gren smiled bitterly at the word 'comrade.' Comrade wasn't what he would call Vicious. When he thought back, 'vicious' was definitely the word he would use to describe the man he met on Titan.  
  
Gren pushed open the doors and the friendly smell of cigarette smoke and alcohol greeted him like an old friend. "Hey there Gren," the bartender smiled and Gren smiled back. "You're early today."  
  
Gren shrugged, then set his saxophone case down. "I've got nothin else to do."  
  
The bartender smiled and poured a drink in a shot glass and gave it to Gren. "You look like hell. Have a drink."  
  
Gren took the glass and quickly drank it. Suddenly like a wave, the alcohol washed over him and temporally erased every bad feeling.  
As good as it felt, Gren knew the feeling wouldn't last forever, and then those images of war and Titan would once again plague his thoughts. But until then, he would enjoy every moment of this bliss.   
  
Gren took out his saxophone and sat on the stool on the mini stage. The regulars at the bar were used to hearing him play every night at seven o'clock. Some people that were new to the bar looked up from their drinks and watched Gren as he started to play his saxophone. The piano next to Gren was vacant.   
  
When he played his saxophone, everything else melted away. All he knew was the beautiful melody of the notes.  
  
Once he stopped playing, he looked around the bar. It was a regular bar. Just one exception. No women. But that wasn't odd. There were no women anywhere on Callisto. Unless you counted the men that try to be women.   
  
Suddenly a cold blast of air hit him, and Gren realized that the door to the bar had opened. In walked a woman. She was beautiful. Flowing blond hair, blue eyes, a slim body. She was everything a man could ask for. Which was why most men in the bar began to stare. Gren silently watched the woman sit on the corner barstool and brush off the snow that was remaining on her hair.   
  
She smiled at the bartender.   
  
"Um, you want somethin to drink?" the bartender said nervously. It was seemed he had forgotten how to talk to a woman.  
  
"Yes, I'll have a shot of whiskey."  
  
"Straight up?"  
  
"Yes, please."  
  
The woman turned to face Gren. Gren smiled and started to play his saxophone again.   
  
The woman seemed to be watching him, and not paying any attention to the looks she was getting. He saw her smile for a moment before a look of sadness came over her face. She drank her shot of whiskey and looked into the bottom of the glass. Once Gren finished, she looked at him, the sadness still etched her features. She smiled softly. "That's a beautiful song,"  
  
Gren smiled at her. "Yeah. The tune was given to me by-" Gren stopped suddenly. Was 'friend' an accurate word to call Vicious? No, of course not. "A comrade."  
  
The woman nodded. "I used to love that song." Gren sensed the woman was about to cry. She stared at her empty shot glass. She instantly fought back her tears. She had gotten used to doing that. She'd been wanting to cry ever since she fled Mars. She looked up at gren and saw him grab his coat. He wrapped it around her shoulders. She gave a him a look of thanks. She spent a moment sitting there, her eyes closed as she hugged the coat around her. She then looked and Gren and smiled.  
  
Gren smiled and brushed some of his black hair off his shoulder.   
The woman smiled and took off the coat and gave it back to Gren. "How do you do that?"  
  
"Do what?"  
  
"I hardly know you," The woman smiled and shook her head. "and yet, you make me feel so at ease. So peaceful. I feel like I've known you forever." She smiled sadly.   
Gren smiled softly, and took the coat the woman had handed him. "What's your name?" he asked.  
  
"Julia."  
  
Gren nodded. "That's a beautiful name." He lit up a cigarette. "That would explain why you loved that song so much."  
  
Julia nodded. The two were silent for a moment. Julia looked up at Gren. "Can I ask you a stupid question?"  
  
Gren laughed softly and nodded. "Sure."  
  
"How did you learn that tune?"  
  
"Oh, a friend gave me the tune. I thought it was so beautiful, I wanted to play it on my sax." Gren looked at his saxophone.   
  
Julia nodded. She looked at Gren. "I've told you my name. So what's yours?"  
  
"Gren."   
  
"Well, Gren," Julia smiled. "I guess I'll see you around." And with that she smiled and left.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Wow...that sucked. Anyways, stick around, maybe it'll get better.  
  
S.T.A.R.S Chick  
  



	2. Only Ashes

Disclaimer - I don't own Cowboy Bebop…. Der

AN: This was actually going to be a one-shot kinda thing. I wasn't really planning of expanding. And then… I got reviews and decided that hey… some people might want me to finish this. And here I am. Trying to finish it.

Just a warning, I have no hard facts of what happened with Julia and Gren. I'm making it up as I go along.

Many thanks to everyone who is read this and didn't give up on it. 

****

Dedication: To Rachel, who can brighten my day with one phone call and helped me get through one of the hardest times of my life. 

Once More With Feeling

Cool, calm exterior. The exact model of perfection in every way. And yet… Julia was a wreck inside. She walked with confidence, she ate with confidence, but inside she was dying. Where was Spike? Her heart ached for him. But she never shed a tear. She promised herself she wouldn't cry. This was her decision and it was going to save Spike. In the long run, anyway. Not one crystal tear would be shed about this situation, Julia had decided. They threatened to appear at moments notice. When small reminders of her past would sneak up on her, she felt the need to cry. But she didn't. She enjoyed going into Blue Crow. She didn't know why. Maybe it was because every time she walked in, life would stop. Every one in the bar would stare at her. Of course, these were all men convicted of crimes. But hey, an ego boost was an ego boost. 

She liked going into see Gren. He understood her without her even having to say a word. He reminded her of Spike. Gren could understand Julia just by the way she looked at him. She always asked for him to play the same song. Always sad, melancholy tunes. 

Gren never asked if she wanted him to play anything else. If there was one thing Gren knew, it was music. People expressed themselves through music, when somehow, words just won't do it. He sensed it when she walked into the Blue Crow that evening. The winds were picking up, and snow was falling. But she walked in as graceful as ever. Almost glided, to her regular stool, she was so ethereal. Gren always noticed that everyone watched her. They stopped everything they were doing to see this golden haired woman. Life itself, stopped for Julia, it seemed. Gren couldn't help but smile. There was something special about her. He knew it. 

She sat on that stool again that night, snow melting into her hair. She brushed remnant flakes off her face and delicately smiled at him. 

"Nice evening." Gren commented to her. He didn't need to talk to anyone else in the bar. No one else mattered.

"Yeah, if you like snow." Julia smiled, giving her reply a sardonic feel. 

Gren smiled. "I don't mind snow. After you've seen nothing but sand, then you appreciate snow."

"Where did you see nothing but sand?" Julia asked, her head resting on her hand.

"Titan." Gren replied tightly. 

"Ah, you're a war vet. I understand. Don't want to talk about it." Julia put her hands in the air, and they elegantly landed back on her lap. 

Gren sighed. "I'm not trying to be defensive. Let's just say Titan wasn't the best of experiences."

"Understood." Julia answered, flagging down the bartender and ordering. With the drink in her hand, she looked at Gren from under her long lashes. "We all have experiences that we want to keep secret." There was an edge to her voice that intrigued Gren. Suddenly, he had to know everything about this woman.

"So, why are you in Callisto?" Gren asked, stepping off the stage and sitting next to Julia. 

"Figured it was good place to vacation." Julia smirked and took a sip of her alcohol. 

Gren smiled. "All right, you're not going to tell me, that's fine. Everyone here has a secret."

Julia couldn't hide her interest. "Secrets?" Gren nodded. Julia smiled softly. "I guess I fit right in, then."

"You have secrets?" Gren questioned. His curiosity was getting the best of him. 

He was rewarded with a nod and a smile. "Of course. You yourself said everyone does." Julia took a cigarette out of her purse and lit it.

"I met someone in Titan. I thought he was my friend." Gren said to Julia. He wanted to tell everything to her. He felt safe, secure. He trusted her. And he felt that she trusted him. Every night for the past two weeks, she had come in the Blue Crow and talked with him. 

Julia looked at him with soft, expectant eyes, silently telling him that she was listening. 

"Turned out I thought wrong. He wasn't my friend. Told people that I was a traitor. So they arrested me and it wasn't pretty after that."

Julia nodded. A long moment of silence passed between them. They listened to the background chatter of the bar for a while before Julia spoke up. 

"At least you're not labeled a whore. I fell in love with my boyfriend's best friend. And I had to choose between my life and his life." Julia told him. "at least that's the reader's digest version." she added a bit of humor to the conversation. Gren smiled a bit. 

"So you're running from your boyfriend?" Gren asked. Julia shrugged.

"Yeah. I ran away. It was the only way to save the guy I loved. So here I am, on a planet only inhibited by male criminals." Tears threatened to spill again. Julia pushed them back with a drag of her cigarette.

"

"Nothing wrong with running away." Gren commented.

Julia's eyes became glazed. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. Gren studied her. It seemed like he shared Julia with something. Almost like she was two places at once. She was with him, but at the same time, part of her was far away. He assumed she was thinking about her past. "You're right." she murmured. She was clearly not with him right now. But she would return. He watched her go into her own world for a while, maybe reliving her past.

He hated to see her cry. He hated to see women cry. His mother cried a lot after his father died. He hated seeing her cry. He felt so helpless. That's why he hated seeing Julia cry. He wanted to help, but there was nothing he could do.

Gren decided it was time for a change of subject. 

"So how long are you staying in Callisto?" he asked.

Julia snapped out of her reverie and looked at Gren. "Until they come and find me." she said with a wry smile. Gren smiled as well. She was back for the moment. 

"So where do you live, Gren? In one of those huge apartment buildings?" she asked taking an elegant sip of her alcohol. 

He smiled. "Oh yeah. I play sax in a bar, I make millions." he answered sarcastically. She smiled and laughed. 

"Where are you staying?" he asked. 

She rolled her eyes. "I was staying at this motel. But it was terrible." she looked at him and smiled. "You got any good suggestions?"

Gren mulled this question over. "You're welcome to stay with me." he offered. 

If Julia was surprised by this answer she sure didn't show it. She looked at Gren coolly. "Gren, this isn't-"

"Look, I'm not aiming for a romantic relationship." he cut her off, surprising her a bit. Her face relaxed and she smiled a ghost of a smile. "I don't want a romance with you, Julia. This is a friend offering a friend a place to stay."

Julia's breath caught in her throat. Never had she been shown such kindness. Her mind registered the bible story her mother told her as a child. The Good Samaritan story. Gren was her good Samaritan… he was going to help her. 

"In that case, Gren, I'd love to stay with you." she smiled. 

******

So there's a short chapter. 

Hope you stick around for more =)

S.T.A.R.S Chick


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